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The Story of a Real Dog 


By 

FEZA M. REYNOLDS 


BECKLEY-CARDY COMPANY 
CHICAGO 


C c mio 


Copyright, 1927 

BY 

Beckley-Cardy Company 


All Rights Reserved 



jftN-ra 


Printed in the United States of America 


©Cl A101 8109 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I Rat Terrier or Hound?.7 

II Shug Gets into Trouble.12 

III The Wild Horseback Ride.16 

IV Shug Becomes a Hero.22 

V The Fishing Trip .26 

VI The Baby Raccoons.32 

VII Ted and Billy Get a Fright .... 38 

VIII The “Gypsy” Camp.43 

IX The Visit at Uncle Henry’s .... 48 

X The Young Prisoners.52 

XI Shug and the Gander.57 

XII The Quarrel.62 

XIII The Surprise.69 

XIV The Company.76 

XV The Circus.80 

XVI The Play Circus.86 

XVII The Bandits’ Cave.93 

XVIII The Scare.97 

XIX The New Puppy. 101 

XX The Morning Ride.106 

XXI Shug Goes to a New-Home . . . .111 

XXII Shug Is Missed.115 

XXIII Buddy Runs Away.120 

XXIV The Happy Reunion.123 

5 










SHUG THE PUP 


i 

RAT TERRIER OR HOUND? 

Shug was mad, just plain mad. Hadn’t he 
eaten all the gravy, drunk all the milk and 
gnawed all the bones he could find ever since 
he was a little pup, so he would soon grow 
into a great, big dog? And now all the thanks 
he got for it was to hear Uncle Bob say: “Yes, 
I was cheated in that dog. I paid a dollar for 
a rat terrier and now he’s twice as large as 
he was supposed to be. I’m afraid he’s going 
to grow into a hound.” 

“I wonder if I am,” thought Shug, as he 
lay on the front porch and blinked his eyes in 
the sun. He had reasons for eating and want¬ 
ing to grow other than to please Uncle Bob. 
In the first place he was always hungry, but 
all this time he had been wanting to get big 


Shug the Pup 


enough to whip Towser, Mr. White’s dog that 
lived half a mile down the road. 

Once when Shug was a little pup, Towser 
had come over with Mr. White. Shug was 
lying out in the back yard gnawing a big juicy 
bone, when all of a sudden Towser came around 
the house. As soon as Towser saw the bone 
he came running over, grabbed it and started 
to trot away. 

This made Shug furious and he ran after 
the big dog, growling and barking. Towser 
dropped the bone, seized Shug by the neck and 
shook him as if he were a rat, then let him 
loose, grabbed the bone and ran off as fast 
as he could go. 

Shug was so scared he ran under the smoke¬ 
house and didn’t venture out for an hour. Al¬ 
ways since, the minute he caught sight of 
Towser, he would make a dash for the smoke¬ 
house and stay there until he was sure Towser 
was gone. Then Shug would stick his head out 
and look all around before he dared to come 





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10 


Shug the Pup 

out. Each time he consoled himself by think¬ 
ing how sorry he would make this larger dog 
when he himself grew big. 

And then Shug didn’t like his name. Why 
didn’t they name him Fido or Shep, or some 
real dog name? He wondered and wondered 
about it, until one day he heard some com¬ 
pany ask Mother where they got such an odd 
name for that dog. 

Shug at once pricked up his ears. He heard 
her explain: “He has always been very fond 
of sugar and when he was a little pup the boys 
would carry small lumps of sugar in their 
pockets and make him beg for them. At last 
he found out where they carried the sugar; and 
then, instead of begging, he would watch his 
chance and every time they got down on the 
ground, he would try to get his nose in their 
pockets and steal a lump or two. The boys 
thought this was so funny they began calling 
him Sugar. Later they shortened it to Shug, 
and we’ve called him that ever since.” 


Rat Terrier or Hound? 


11 


And worst of all, the boys, Ted and Billy, 
were going to school and all day long Shug 
didn’t know what to do with himself. He 
couldn’t for the life of him understand why 
they wouldn’t let him go along. Each morning 
he would follow them to the gate and then 
they would make him go back. 

Shug was so mad he had a notion to run 
away. But while he was thinking about it, he 
fell asleep and didn’t wake up until Uncle Bob 
drove in from town. Then Shug ran to meet 
him and forgot all about being unhappy. 


II 


SHUG GETS INTO TROUBLE 

Ted and Billy had been wishing for a dog 
for a long time before Uncle Bob bought Shug 
for them. They had spoken to Father about 
it a number of times, but he had always put 
them off. So, when Uncle Bob came to stay 
with them for a while, they told him about 
it; for they usually got what they wanted when 
they told Uncle Bob. 

Uncle Bob had always been a great favorite 
of the boys. He was Father’s youngest brother 
and all during his college years he spent his 
vacations helping Mr. Brown with the work 
on the farm. But after he graduated he went 
to work and the boys didn’t see him for several 
months. Then he was sick and now he had 
come to stay with them again. The boys were 
happy. 

Sure enough, not long after that, Uncle Bob 

came home one day with Shug in a little box 
12 


Shu g Gets into Trouble 13 

in his car. He was only a tiny black pup then. 
The boys were so tickled they could hardly eat 
their dinner. They fixed up a little dog-house 
and fed him warm milk until he could drink 
no longer. 

He was a little timid at first, but in a few days 
he began to follow them all over the place. 
He grew rapidly and in a few weeks he was so 
full of fun he wanted to romp and play from 
morning until night. About the only time he 
was still was when he was asleep. He would 
get an old bucket and roll it all over the yard 
for an hour at a time, growling and barking 
as fiercely as he could. Then he would start 
chasing his tail and go round and round and 
round until he would get so dizzy he could 
hardly stand up. 

One day Mrs. Brown washed one of Uncle 
Bob’s silk shirts and hung it out on the clothes¬ 
line to dry. After she had gone back into the 
house, Shug noticed it blowing back and forth 
and he at once decided that here was a chance 


14 


Shug the Pup 


for some fun. He ran over and grabbed first 
one sleeve, then the other, as they flapped in 
the breeze. 

Soon he got braver and caught hold and 
swung around and around, tearing holes in the 
cuff as he went. 

About this time Mrs. Brown came out with 
some more clothes and saw him. She said 
nothing, but started that way, and as she 
passed a tree, she broke off a little switch. 
Reaching down, she caught Shug by the neck 
and gave him a whipping. He howled and 
cried loudly and when she let go of him, he ran 
as fast as ever he could and crawled under the 
smokehouse. He was much more scared than 
hurt, however, Mrs. Brown having taken him 
so by surprise. 

Ted and Billy heard his cries and came run¬ 
ning to see what was the matter. Ted just 
laughed but Billy, who was the smaller, and 
much more tender hearted, was almost ready 
to cry. 


Shug Gets into Trouble 15 

“The poor little fellow didn’t know any 
better, Mother,” he said. 

“Of course not, Billy,” Mother answered, “but 
that was the best way to teach him. I didn’t 
hurt him much, but I frightened him so badly 
that I don’t believe he’ll ever try that again.” 

And Shug, listening from where he was cud¬ 
dled under the corner of the smokehouse, was 
certain he never would. 


Ill 


THE WILD HORSEBACK RIDE 

Shug was happy. It was Saturday and Ted 
and Billy didn’t have to go to school. They 
lived on a large farm and the boys usually 
had work to do, but there was always some time 
for play. Just to follow after them while they 
were working was better than staying at home 
alone. Shug didn’t know it, of course, but 
there was only one more week of school; then 
the boys would be home all summer. 

Ted was ten and Billy eight years old, and 
Mr. Brown was just beginning to let them ride 
and drive the farm horses alone. That morn¬ 
ing he was going over to the large pasture to 
pump some water for the calves. He told the 
boys they might ride “Old Doc” and go too. 
Doc was an old family horse that had been a 
pet for years, but several weeks before he had 
become lame, so they had turned him out into 

the back pasture and the boys seldom saw him. 

IG 


The W ild Horseback Ride 17 

Now he was well and they had brought him 
home and, as Father said, “He looked and 
acted like a colt.” 

They rode slowly out across the pasture and 
Shug trotted along behind. When at last they 
reached the well, the boys pumped the little 
trough full of water while Father was mending 
a fence; then they climbed up the steep banks 
of the little stream near by and rolled rocks 
down into the water. 

At last they grew tired and led old Doc 
alongside the fence and climbed on his back. 
Father noticed them and told them they would 
better wait for him, as the horse was pretty 
frisky for them to handle alone; but they were 
not the least bit afraid, so they started slowly 
homeward. 

Soon they reached the top of the hill, where 
there was a long, gradual slope to the house. 
Ted was riding in front and he thought it would 
be fun to make old Doc trot a little, so he 
began slapping him with the ends of the bridle 


18 


Shug the Pup 


reins. Of course it made the old horse uneasy. 

Billy entered into the fun, and began kicking 
him in the ribs. Doc at once started off into 
a brisk trot. He bounced them up and down 
so hard that Ted loosened up on the reins and 
grabbed hold of the horse’s mane. The horse 
evidently thought they were urging him on, 
so he went faster and faster until he was almost 
in a run. 

“Hold on! Hold on!” Ted kept calling to 
Billy. 

“Hold on, yourself!” yelled Billy, who had 
both arms around Ted and was hanging on 
with all his might. He was so scared he hardly 
knew what was happening. On toward home 
the horse went, bouncing them first on one 
side and then on the other, until it seemed he 
would never stop. 

Ted thought he saw relief in sight. The pas¬ 
ture gate was shut, so, if they could only stay 
on until they got there, the horse would stop 
of his own accord. 



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20 


Shug the Pup 


On they went, until both boys became so 
frightened their hearts stood still, for Doc was 
not even slowing up for the gate. What if he 
should try to jump it? They hardly breathed 
as they dashed along. There was little time to 
think, however, although it seemed like ages, 
and he was getting nearer and nearer. 

At last, just as he reached the gate, he planted 
his front feet firmly and came to a sudden stop 
and both boys went rolling off into the dust. 

Ted was the first one up, and he looked 
around and saw Billy sitting on the ground 
with tears in his eyes, rubbing his head and 
feeling of his elbows. Shug came running up 
and tried to lick him on the face, so Billy got 
to his feet. 

Mother saw them fall and came running, 
very much excited. Father, realizing what might 
happen, had mounted his horse and followed 
them. He arrived a few minutes later. 

Old Doc stood with bent head, looking as 
though he were sorry and wanted to say so. 


The Wild Horseback Ride 


21 


Ted and Billy were both talking at once, trying 
to tell how it all happened. 

“Ted fell off and I was holding onto him, so 
of course I had to go too,” explained Billy. 

“Yes, but Billy pulled me off,” was Ted’s 
hasty reply. 

Then they saw how funny it really was and 
all broke into a hearty laugh. 

“Well, next time, I think you’ll listen to 
what I say and wait for me,” Father said; 
and both boys readily agreed with him. 


IV 


SHUG BECOMES A HERO 

Mother was greatly annoyed. “Something 
must be done,” she said one morning at the 
breakfast table. “The chicken-coops have been 
broken into three times lately and some of my 
chickens killed each time. The poor things all 
seemed frightened nearly to death when I let 
them out this morning.” 

“You’d better tie Shug out there to-night,” 
began Uncle Bob. “Maybe it’s a bear and 
Shug’ll kill it.” 

Everybody laughed heartily, for of course 
there were no bears in that part of the country. 
And even if there were, what chance would Shug 
have with one of them! 

Shug was on the porch and heard what was 
said. “I don’t see what they are laughing at,” 
he thought to himself. “Of course if I was out 
there and a bear came, I’d kill it and I should 

think they would be glad of it.” Shug wasn’t 

22 


Shu g Becomes a Hero 23 

quite certain what a bear looked like, but he 
felt sure he wouldn’t be afraid of it. 

There was more talking, but Shug had heard 
enough. All that day he wondered and wondered 
if they would tie him out by the chicken-coops 
that night. He was not at all certain he would 
like it. He wasn’t old enough to like to be out 
late at night. He would rather curl up in 
his bed and sleep. 

He didn’t eat all of his supper that day. 
About dusk he came around the corner of the 
house just in time to see a strange black cat 
eating out of his dish. He growled and started 
for her. The cat darted away and he followed. 
He chased it around the garden, then it went 
over the fence and he couldn’t follow. 

He had just turned and started back to the 
house when he ran into a fuzzy, gray animal 
about the size of a cat. It didn’t look like 
a cat, though, and it had a long tail with no 
hair on it. Shug began barking and growling 
and snapping at it, but instead of running 


24 


Shug the Pup 


away or showing fight, it curled up and acted 
as though it were dead. Shug kept on barking, 
but the animal didn’t move. 

Billy heard Shug barking and began calling, 
but Shug didn’t want to leave, so he barked 
louder than ever. After a time Billy came up 
to see what was the matter. When he caught 
sight of the animal he ran back for his father. 

When Mr. Brown got there he saw at once 
that it was an opossum. 

“Is it dead?” Billy kept asking. “Do you 
suppose Shug killed it?” 

Father laughed. “No,” he said. “It is all 
right. That is the way opossums always act 
when they think anything is going to harm 
them. They lie still and act as though they 
were dead, so people will go away and let them 
alone. I’ll just show you,” Father continued. 
He reached down and picked the opossum up 
by its tail, carried it to the house and called 
Ted and the rest of the family to see it. He 
put it down on the ground and rolled it around, 


Shu g Becomes a Hero 25 

but it hardly moved. Ted and Billy watched 
it closely. 

“That’s what has been killing the chickens,” 
Father said. “It had such good luck the other 
nights that it was coming early to-night.” 

He reached down and patted Shug on the 
head. 

“Good dog,” he said. “You got the chicken 
eater all right.” 

Shug never felt so proud in his life as when he 
marched off across the lawn. “Maybe it wasn’t 
a bear,” he said to himself, “but I got it just 
the same.” 


y 


THE FISHING TRIP 

Ted and Billy were greatly excited, for they 
were going fishing with Uncle Bob and Roy 
Myers, a neighbor boy. 

They took Shug and Roy’s big Scotch collie 
dog Rover along. They all went down along 
the stream that ran through the woods about 
half a mile away. 

Shug was so anxious to get to the woods 
that he would run on ahead and then come 
back to meet them. They fished up the stream 
for about a mile without catching any fish or 
seeing anything except a squirrel that ran into 
a hollow tree. 

After a while they heard Rover barking loudly 
some distance ahead. They all started to go 
where he was except Shug, who was so busy 
barking at a toad that Ted could hardly get 
him to leave. 

When they came in sight of the dog, he was 

26 


The Fishing Trip 


27 


running around and around a large tree, look¬ 
ing up and barking wildly. As they came nearer 
they saw a good-sized animal crouched upon 
a branch, high up in the tree. 

Roy and Uncle Bob ran as fast as they could, 
but Ted and Billy slowed up and came to a stop 
a safe distance away. They viewed the animal 
in open-eyed amazement. It was dark-colored 
and looked like a cat, except that it was too 
big. It was larger than Shug. It couldn’t be 
a squirrel, and it was too large for a ground 
hog. 

“Do you s’pose it’s a bear?” ventured Billy 
in an awed voice, his eyes as big as saucers. 

“I— I don’t know what it is,” answered Ted, 
advancing cautiously a little closer. 

Just then Uncle Bob called: “Come here, 
boys, and see this raccoon!” And, sure enough, 
it was a full grown raccoon. 

“That’s a real one,” Roy was saying. “Do 
you suppose we could capture it alive?” 

Uncle Bob laughed. “I think not,” he re- 


28 


Shug the Pup 


plied. “It is too big for the dogs to handle and 
it would put up a hard fight.” 

They watched it a while and then, calling 
Rover, who did not want to leave, they went on 
down the stream. 

Finally they settled down in a shady nook 
and Uncle Bob stretched out on the ground, 
enjoying the quietness of the place. Roy was 
fixing his fishing-rod and Ted and Billy threw 
in their hooks and waited. 

Pretty soon Billy spied a crawfish lazily sun¬ 
ning himself on the side of the bank down 
stream. He rested his pole on the bank and 
told Ted to watch it, while he crawled over the 
bank and soon forgot all about fishing. 

After a while Uncle Bob was awakened out of 
a doze by a sharp exclamation from Ted. 
Something had seized hold of Billy’s hook and 
was starting to drag the pole down the bank. 
Dropping his own pole, Ted snatched Billy’s, 
just as it was about to get out of his reach. 
Ted was hanging on with all his might and 



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30 


Shug the Pup 


calling for help, for he was being dragged slowly 
down the bank. Roy yelled to him to let go, 
but he only stuck his feet into the dirt and 
hung on all the harder. He was about at the 
water’s edge when Uncle Bob bounded over the 
bank and took hold of the pole. 

Ted was so excited he hardly knew what he 
was doing. 

“Billy! Billy!” he called. “Come here, quick! 
We’ve caught a whale or something!” 

Uncle Bob was down over the bank, letting 
his victim have its way, somewhat, for fear of 
breaking the line; but he was trying to work 
it away from a drift close by and nearer the edge 
of the water. 

“It must be a big one,” he exclaimed. 

Billy came running up, breathless and wide- 
eyed. In his eagerness to see what was happen¬ 
ing, he dropped down on his knees and leaned 
over the bank. All of a sudden the dirt gave 
way and he plunged headlong down the bank 
and rolled over into the edge of the water. 


The Fishing Trip 31 

Roy leaped after him, and had hold of Billy 
almost as soon as he reached the water. Billy 
was too scared even to cry. In the excitement 
Uncle Bob almost let go of his line. 

Roy carried Billy up the bank and then went 
back to help Uncle Bob. After some time their 
“fish” was slowly dragged out of the water. 
It proved to be a large turtle. 

“Well, for goodness’ sake!” Uncle Bob ex¬ 
claimed, and they all joined in a hearty laugh. 
They carried the turtle up on the bank so the 
boys could get a good look at it. Pretty soon 
Uncle Bob said he thought they would better 
turn it loose and take Billy home for some dry 
clothes. Billy was more than willing, so they 
called Shug and Rover and made their way 
homeward as fast as they could. 


VI 


THE BABY RACCOONS 

About a week after the fishing trip, Mr. 
Brown learned that some hunters had been in 
the woods with hounds, the night before, and 
had captured a large raccoon. Both Uncle Bob 
and the boys felt sure it was the one they had 
seen and the boys talked about it a great deal. 

A couple of days later Roy Myers, the neigh¬ 
bor boy, was in the woods looking for a calf 
that had wandered away. He was going along 
the stream not far from the spot where the 
raccoon had been captured, when he heard a 
strange noise. He listened a while and then, 
going in the direction of the sound, came to a 
large hollow tree. 

He leaned down, then, and listened again. He 
heard strange cries and whines of some kind of 
animals. He gave a low cry, thinking they 
might come out in sight, but the sounds ceased 
at once. He wondered if it could be some baby 


The Baby Raccoons 33 

raccoons. Perhaps the mother raccoon had had 
some babies and they had been left to starve. 

He broke away some of the rotten wood, but 
found that the animals were down in a hole in 
the ground under the tree. 

He went home and got a spade and a heavy 
sack and then went back to the woods to dig 
the baby coons out, for he felt sure the hole 
was the raccoon’s nest. There were two 
entrances to the hole, so he put a piece of log 
in one, and started to dig into the other. 

He worked a good while. Finally he reached 
the end of the hole and there they were, as he 
had expected, three little raccoons, cuddled up 
in a corner. 

They were so hungry that they came toward 
him, sticking their noses up in the air. How¬ 
ever, when he tried to pick them up they were 
afraid and tried to get away. He caught two 
of them without any trouble and after a chase 
among the weeds he got the third one. He 
carried them home and fixed up a little cage 


34 


Shug the Pup 


out of one of his mother’s wire chicken-coops. 
Then he came over to tell Uncle Bob and the 
boys about the little raccoons. 

Ted and Billy were so excited they could 
hardly wait until they saw them. They went 
home with Roy and stayed for an hour or two, 
walking about the cage and watching Roy, who 
was trying to find out what the raccoons liked 
to eat. He didn’t know what to feed them, 
but he soon found out that they would eat 
bread or potatoes or milk, or almost anything. 

Billy watched them a long while, wishing they 
were his. Then, remembering that he had a 
quarter and Ted a dime, he wondered if they 
could buy one. He slipped around and talked 
it over with Ted, who was very willing. So he 
sauntered over to Roy. 

“What would you take for one of them?” he 
asked timidly. 

Roy laughed. “I don’t want to sell them,” 
he said, “but I’ll give you one.” 

Both boys fairly beamed, as Roy caught one 


The Baby Raccoons 35 

and put it into a shoe box. They proudly 
carried it home. 

They called Mother out on the porch to show 
her their new pet. To their great surprise she 
was not very well pleased. 

“I’m afraid a raccoon would not make a very 
good pet,” she said. “I’m inclined to think 
it would kill my chickens, when it grows a 
little bigger.” 

The boys promised faithfully to keep the 
raccoon away from the chickens. 

Just then Shug came running up and the 
new pet was brought out for him to see. It was 
doubtful whether Shug liked it as well, even, 
as Mother. It might be all right, but Shug 
didn’t want too many pets around for fear the 
folks might forget him. He stood back and 
watched them feed the little raccoon, all the 
time longing to grab her by the neck and give 
her a good, hard shaking. 

The boys fixed up a cozy little nest for her in 
a box in the woodshed and she seemed per- 


36 


Shu g the Pup 


fectly satisfied. They named her Sally Ann. 
In a few days she was very tame and would 
follow them all over the yard. When they 
climbed a tree or a fence, she would follow 
exactly the same way they went. She always 
walked slowly though, as if she were half asleep. 

They began trying to teach her little tricks 
and for a few weeks she was very tame. Then 
she grew more and more shy and finally she 
would run and hide under the wood-pile or the 
smokehouse every time she saw anyone coming 
to catch her. They would put food down on 
the ground and then, when they were a safe 
distance away, she would come out and eat. 

Shug took delight in teasing Sally Ann. He 
would bark fiercely at her and then she would 
cuddle down on the ground and he would take 
his paw and roll her over and over. She soon 
grew larger, however, and then, when she would 
get tired of being teased, she would slap his 
ears or scratch his nose. Shug would whine 
pitifully at this punishment and go away and 


The B ah y Raccoons 


37 


let her alone for some time. Then after a while 
he would start teasing her again. 

She slept out under the rose-bushes or in the 
grass by the garden gate, but she never tried to 
go away, so the boys didn’t keep her shut up. 

One morning she didn’t come when they 
called her. They hunted and hunted in the 
yard and through the garden. They thought 
she would surely come back, but she never did. 
Sally Ann had gone away, back to the woods 
to live her own happy, care-free life. 


VII 


TED AND BILLY GET A FRIGHT 

Ted and Billy had some new work to do. 
Mr. Brown had turned the milch cows into 
the timber pasture and the boys went down 
and drove them up to the barn each evening 
and took them back in the morning. They 
drove them down the road, almost half a mile, 
to the gate where they turned them into the 
field. 

There was a small grove along the stream 
in the pasture and sometimes the cows would 
not be at the gate in the evening and the boys 
would have to go down among the trees to 
find them. 

One evening it was almost sundown when 
they started from home. All the cows were 
at the gate but old Nig, a big black cow that 
was a great pet of the boys. She was so tame 
and lazy that she was always loitering along 
a good way behind the rest of the small herd. 

38 


39 


Ted and Silly Get a Fright 

The boys opened the gate and started the 
rest of the cows up the road and then went 
to look for her. They called her and pretty 
soon they saw her coming as slowly as if it 
didn’t matter whether she ever did get there. 
So they hurried on to meet her. 

When they reached the place where they 
could see around the bend in the road they 
stopped short, and looked at each other wide- 
eyed, for there they saw a group of people with 
three covered wagons camped by the side of 
the road. 

“I believe it’s gypsies!” said Ted, who had 
heard a story about gypsies not long before. 

“What if they should try to steal us?” asked 
Billy in a startled voice. “I’m afraid, Ted,” 
he said. “Let’s go home.” 

“But we must get Nig first,” answered Ted, 
who was trying very hard to keep up his 
courage. 

Old Nig was coming nearer, so they waited 
until she peached them. 


40 


Shug the Pup 

“Now I’ll get a stick and make her hurry 
and you run just as fast as you can,” called 
Ted, as he started her off into a trot. 

Pretty soon Billy began crying and calling 
to Ted to wait. His feet were tangled up in 
some weeds and he was having a hard time 
to get along. 

“I can’t keep up,” he sobbed, as Ted ran 
back to meet him. 

By this time both boys were badly frightened. 
Then Ted had an idea. 

“I know what we’ll do,” he exclaimed. “You 
get hold of old Nig’s tail, then I’ll make her 
hurry.” 

“Sure enough,” answered Billy, as the boys 
hurried along. The cow had stopped to eat 
some grass, so it was easy for them to catch 
up with her. Billy grabbed hold of her tail 
with both hands and out of the gate and up 
the road they went. Nig saw that the other 
cattle had gone on ahead, so it was not hard 
to get her along. 





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42 


Shug the Pup 


Father had told them not to make the cows 
run, but they were so badly scared they didn’t 
think of that. 

They soon reached home, breathless and ex¬ 
cited, and Billy ran to the house to tell Mother, 
while Ted went on to the barn to tell Father 
what they had seen. 

That night poor Billy even saw gypsies and 
black cows in his dreams. 


VIII 


THE “GYPSY” CAMP 

The “gypsies” didn’t go on the next day, but 
stayed camped by the side of the road where 
Ted and Billy had seen them the evening before. 

Two of the men came up to Mr. Brown’s 
to buy some corn for their horses. They told 
him that they had some white ponies with 
them that they wanted him to come down and 
look at. Maybe he would want to buy one 
for the boys. 

They were not real gypsies but people who 
made their living by traveling about the country 
all summer buying, selling and trading horses. 
One of the women came to the house, and 
wanted to sell Mrs. Brown some paper flowers 
and lace. Father didn’t seem much interested 
in going to their camp, but Ted and Billy 
coaxed him to take them, so he did. 

The boys were afraid at first. Billy held 
tightly to Father’s hand and Ted wouldn’t go 

43 


44 


Shug the Pup 


far from his side. But they wanted very much 
to see the ponies. 

Two of the women were cooking dinner over 
a small stove on the ground. A ragged little 
girl was playing with a monkey near by. 

The boys were so interested in the monkey 
that they forgot all about being afraid and 
kept going nearer to it. Shug was following 
close behind the boys, keeping one eye on the 
monkey and the other on a large dog lying 
under one of the wagons. 

Pretty soon the girl called to them to come 
over and see the monkey. After they had talked 
a few minutes, she offered to sell it to them. 
The minute she mentioned selling it, Shug 
pricked up his ears and listened. Of all the 
pets he could think of, he would hate most 
to have a monkey around. It was bad enough 
to have cats, but to have a monkey—well, that 
would be the worst thing he could possibly 
think of. To his great relief the boys didn’t 
talk much as though they would care to buy it. 



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46 S hug the P u p 

“Does the monkey know any tricks?” Billy 
inquired. 

“Yes, he knows a good many,” replied the 
girl. “If your dog was larger, I would show 
you one of his tricks, for he loves to tease.” 

She whistled to the dog under the wagon. 
The big dog got up, stretched himself and came 
toward them. The monkey jumped out of the 
girl’s arms to the wagon-wheel. Quick as a 
wink he leaped from there onto the dog’s back. 

The dog seemed to be used to it, for he trotted 
off across the road as good-natured as could 
be. All of a sudden he started off on a run, 
jumping ditches and darting through the 
bushes. The monkey had to jump to keep from 
being knocked off. The boys screamed with 
laughter, as the monkey came hopping back 
across the road as if nothing had happened. 

“Will he jump onto a strange dog’s back?” 
they asked. 

“Yes, he will if he gets a chance,” the girl 
replied. “Some of the dogs get angry and try 


47 


The ‘‘Gypsy’’ Camp 

to shake him off. Others lie down and roll 
over on the ground.” 

Just then Father called to them to come 
and see the ponies, so they ran over to where 
he was. One of the men put each of the boys 
on a small white pony and they rode up and 
down the road. 

Both boys were hoping that Father would 
buy at least one of them, but they were dis¬ 
appointed, for he did not do so. It was not 
long before he called the boys to go home. 

“I wish I had one of the ponies,” Billy began 
in a coaxing voice. 

Father then explained to them that he didn’t 
want to buy from these men, as he didn’t know 
anything about their horses. He promised the 
boys, however, that he would try to get them 
a pony before long, so the boys were satisfied, 
for Father usually kept his word. 


IX 


THE VISIT AT UNCLE HENRY’S 

Father, Mother, Ted and Billy were going 
to Uncle Henry’s to visit a few days and the 
boys could hardly wait for the time to come. 

Their cousin Raymond was just about Ted’s 
age and the three boys always had good times 
together. 

They liked to play in Uncle Henry’s large 
haymow. Then there was the pet sheep, Jumbo, 
and the two large hounds, Zip and Bess, and 
ever so many things they wanted to see. 

They were going in the car and Mother 
packed a lunch to eat at noon, for it would take 
them nearly all day to make the trip. Ted and 
Billy wanted to take Shug along and Mother 
told them they might. 

It was a fine cool morning and Father drove 
quite briskly. They stopped under the shade of 
a large tree at noon and ate their lunch. Then 
they drove on and reached their destination 

48 


The Visit at Uncle Henry’s 49 

long before sunset. After the greetings they had 
a nice rest before supper. 

Uncle Henry was in town and didn’t come 
home for an hour. But Aunt Mary and Ray¬ 
mond were watching and ran to meet them 
when they drove up to the gate. 

In a short time Raymond was showing the 
boys over the farm. They looked at the horses 
and the calves. Then they went to the hog- 
house to see the little pigs. 

From there they went to the pasture to see 
the sheep. There was one little lamb and Billy 
wanted to catch it. Raymond told him to 
be careful, for the mother was cross. 

“You’d better not try to catch it.” Ted 
warned Billy. 

“Aw, who’s afraid of that old lady?” Billy 
answered bravely. “Just watch me.” 

He chased the lamb into a fence-corner and, 
after trying several times, grabbed it around 
the neck and held it fast. The lamb kicked 
and scrambled and began bleating as loudly 


50 


Shu g the Pup 


as it could. Shug, who was standing close by, 
ran up and barked wildly. 

The mother-sheep was eating grass a good 
way off. She raised her head, gave one look, 
and started that way as fast as she could run. 
Raymond and Ted yelled at Billy, but she was 
almost on him before he saw her. He let go 
of the lamb and sprang to his feet just in time 
for her to butt him in the back and throw 
him to the ground. Then she ran at Shug, 
who tucked in his tail and went under the 
fence. 

Billy was so frightened he hardly knew what 
to do. Raymond was calling to him to get 
under the fence. But when he rose to his feet 
the old sheep ran at him again, knocking him 
down. 

Raymond and Ted each seized a stick and 
came to help him, but she hit him again before 
they got there. 

Billy was screaming and crying as the older 
boys ran up and chased the old sheep away. 


51 


The Visit at U n cl e Henry’s 

He ran to the fence, crawled through, and didn’t 
even look back until he had reached a safe dis¬ 
tance on the other side. 

When he did look around, the old sheep was 
running after her baby. Raymond and Ted 
were laughing as hard as they could. 

“What’s the matter, Billy?” called Raymond, 
“are you afraid of that old lady?” 

Billy made no reply for a little while, then he 
grinned rather sheepishly and answered: “Yes, 
I am, and I’m not going to try to catch that 
lamb again, anyhow not when Shug is around.” 


X 


THE YOUNG PRISONERS 

The next day after they reached Uncle Henry’s, 
Ted and Billy and cousin Raymond went to 
the corncrib to shell some corn for the calves. 
After they had worked a while Billy proposed 
that they hunt all the red ears they could 
find. 

Uncle Henry had what he called a chute 
nailed up at the corncrib door. It was built 
so that it formed a little room at the door and 
it had an opening at the bottom where the 
corn could roll in a few ears at a time, so there 
would always be some corn in the little room, 
but not enough to fall out of the door. The 
corn had been used up and it had not rolled 
down for a while and so there was a little space 
left where the boys could crawl under into the 
main part of the crib. 

They crawled through and had a great deal 

of fun rolling the corn around and hunting 

52 


The Young Prisoners 


53 


for the red ears. They found more of them 
than they thought would be there. 

After a while they grew tired of this and 
thought they would go somewhere else; but, 
as they started back to where they had crawled 
into the crib, they looked at each other in 
amazement. They had been rolling corn down 
all this time against the chute where they had 
crawled in and now it would be impossible for 
them to get out. 

Raymond was the first to speak. “We can’t 
get out,” he exclaimed. 

“Isn’t there another door anywhere?” Ted 
and Billy asked in one breath. 

“Yes, there’s a large one, there at the top 
where they put the corn into the crib, but it 
is fastened on the outside and we can’t open it,” 
replied Raymond. 

At first they laughed about it and said they’d 
pretend they were in jail, but this soon grew 
tiresome. They called as loudly as they could, 
thinking some one would hear. But no one 


54 Shug the Pup 

came except Shug, and he couldn't let them 
out. 

“Well, they can’t help but find us when they 
feed the hogs to-night,” Ted told them. 

“But they feed them out of the other crib 
now,” replied Raymond, “and they may not 
come here at all.” 

This worried them more than ever. Time 
wore on. One hour—two hours passed and 
they began to be really anxious. They called 
until they were hoarse. Billy was trying his 
best to keep from crying, but the tears would 
roll down his cheeks in spite of all he could do. 

“Maybe they won’t find us till after dark!” 
he kept saying. 

Meantime Aunt Mary had been making 
cookies and she came out to call the boys to give 
them some. They heard her calling and they 
yelled as loudly as they could, but she didn’t 
hear them. She went back into the house, 
thinking the boys were so far away they couldn’t 
hear her. 


The Young Prisoners 55 

About an hour later—it seemed like an age 
to the boys in the crib—she came out and 
called again. 

The little prisoners again took hope and tried 
their best to make her hear. She seemed to 
be anxious about them this time, for she went 
on down to the barn. The boys could tell 
that she was getting nearer, so they kept calling 
and calling. Shug began barking when the 
boys began calling. Aunt Mary heard Shug 
and came to the barn to find out what was the 
matter. 

When she reached the crib she could hardly 
make out what was happening for a little while. 
Shug barked loudly at the door of the chute 
all the time. All the boys were calling to her 
and they were all talking at once, so she could 
not make out what any one of them was trying 
to say. 

She soon saw what the trouble was, however, 
but the next question was, how to get them 
out. 


56 


Shu g the Pup 


She called the hired man and he took a ladder 
and put it through the large door. The boys 
climbed the ladder and he helped them down. 

When the man saw Billy he laughed until 
he nearly fell off the ladder. He had been cry¬ 
ing and rubbing his eyes with his dirty hands 
until he looked like a circus clown. 

Aunt Mary didn’t laugh. “Poor little fellow,” 
she said, but she looked as though she wanted 
to laugh, as she took them to the house to 
eat their fill of nice, warm cookies. 

And she gave Shug a juicy bone. 


XI 


SHUG AND THE GANDER 

Shug was having a good time at Uncle 
Henry’s. Bess and Zip, the two big hounds, 
were so large that he was afraid of them at first, 
but they seemed so friendly that he soon got 
over his fear. 

The first day Aunt Mary fed them close to¬ 
gether and the larger dogs tried to eat Shug’s 
food. After that she fed Shug in the woodshed, 
so he wasn’t bothered at all. 

He had been having such good things to eat 
that he could hardly wait from one meal until 
the next. Aunt Mary must have been feeding 
her company a great deal of chicken, judging 
from the amount of chicken-bones and chicken 
gravy she had been giving him. 

But there was one thing he didn’t like. That 
was the geese. Mrs. Brown didn’t keep geese 
and Shug was not used to them going around 

making such a noise. It was all right when he 

57 


58 


Shug the Pup 


was with the big dogs, or the boys, but when 
he went outside the yard alone, it seemed that 
he was sure to run onto them. The large old 
gander always acted as if he wanted to fight; 
then there was a flock of geese and they always 
stayed in a bunch, so Shug was afraid. He 
always turned and went in some other direction 
when he saw them. 

Geese! geese! always geese, wherever he went. 
Shug couldn’t see any good in them. Why 
should there be geese at all, he thought. 

Uncle Henry had left a small log lying on the 
ground out by the pump. One morning when 
Shug went out to the water trough to get a 
drink, he hopped upon this log and sat down 
to sun himself for a while. Pretty soon he 
became sleepy and sat there dozing, with his 
tail hanging down off the log. 

All at once he gave one awful howl and jumped 
straight into the air. Then he landed on the 
ground beside the log. 

The old gander had got thirsty too and come 


















































60 


Shug the Pup 


down for a drink. He had walked up behind 
Shug. The pup didn’t know the geese were 
near until the old gander almost bit a piece 
out of his tail. 

The gander hissed and flopped his wings the 
way he always did to scare Shug away. But 
this time Shug did not run, for he was mad! 
He was never so mad in all his life, and when 
the gander hissed at him, it made him furious! 

He backed off a little way and then made 
a wild dash for the bird, that sent it rolling 
in the dust. The gander flopped his wings and 
screamed as loudly as he could, but nothing 
would stop the dog. Every time he grabbed, 
he made the feathers fly. 

It was a hard battle, for the gander was 
putting up a game fight. He was slapping 
Shug as hard as he could with his wings, but 
the pup was getting the better of him and would 
probably have killed him, if the men hadn’t 
heard the noise and come running to separate 
them. 


Shug and the Gander 


61 


The hired man laughed and said, “Shug 
picked that gander faster than Aunt Mary 
could.” And from the looks of the feathers 
scattered about on the ground, it looked as 
though he was right. 

During the rest of the visit the geese stayed 
away from Shug and they had no more trouble. 


XII 


THE QUARREL 

The morning after they returned home from 
Uncle Henry’s, Ted was sitting on the back 
steps slowly munching a piece of bread and 
jelly. His elbows rested on his knees, as he 
gazed idly at a little black chicken that was 
eating beside him. 

Suddenly the bread was slipped from his hand 
and he looked around just in time to see Shug 
chasing away across the yard with it in his 
mouth. Ted was so surprised for a moment 
that he only sat and gazed after the dog in 
amazement. 

Billy came around the corner of the house 
just in time to see the fun and he screamed 
with laughter. 

Ted’s face grew red with anger. 

“I’ll teach that pup a lesson,” he muttered, 
as he snatched up a little board from the 
ground. 


62 


The Quarrel 


63 


“Don’t you hit him! Don’t you hit him !” 
Billy called quickly. He had stopped laugh¬ 
ing. 

“I’ll give him a good whipping, that’s what 
I’ll do!” Ted flung back over his shoulder. 

“You won’t!” screamed Billy. 

“I will!” yelled Ted, starting to run after 
Shug. 

The pup scented danger and took to his heels. 
Ted followed, with Billy close behind. 

“If you whip him, I’ll tell Father to-night 
and then he’ll whip you\” was Billy’s parting 
shot. 

Out across the barn-lot and around the barn 
they went. Shug was keeping a safe lead, and 
Billy was falling behind. Finally, when he came 
puffing and panting around the corner of the 
barn, Ted and Shug had disappeared entirely 
and Billy didn’t know which way to go. 

He listened but could not even hear them. 
He went on toward the corncrib and sat down 
to rest and to wait for them to come back. 


64 Shug the P up 

But he soon grew restless and started to look 
for them. 

All through the barn, around the cattle-sheds, 
down by the corncrib, he searched and called 
in vain. 

After a while he wandered up toward the 
house and there lay Shug on the porch, as if 
nothing had ever happened. 

“Where’s Ted?” Billy asked, abruptly, but 
Shug only wagged his tail. 

He walked all through the house, upstairs 
and down, asking no questions, but still looking 
for Ted. 

He went back to the kitchen where Mother 
was at work, and tried to act as if nothing had 
happened. 

“Where is Ted?” Mother asked. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” he replied hastily, and 
sauntered out of doors. 

He didn’t want his mother to know about 
the quarrel, but he was getting more and more 
worried. Maybe Ted was hiding just for fun, 


The Quarrel 


65 


but Billy was beginning to think he was afraid 
to come back for fear Father would whip him. 
Billy remembered his own parting shot and he 
feared that Ted had believed what he said. Of 
course he didn’t really mean it, he kept saying 
to himself, but maybe Ted thought he did. 

Once more he searched through the barn, the 
orchard, and out across the small pasture, but 
to no avail. Again he went the same rounds 
and then waited, and waited, and then started 
out again. 

One hour, two hours, slipped by. Perhaps 
Ted had run off and would never come back! 
The little fellow bravely choked back the tears 
and tried to believe that he would soon find 
him. 

Father and Uncle Bob came home and soon 
Mother called them to dinner. Billy lingered 
along, but finally made his way toward the 
house. Mother met him at the door. 

“Where’s Ted?” she asked. 

This was too much for Billy. 


66 


Shug the Pup 


“He’s gone!” he sobbed. “I—I’m afraid 
he’s run off and won’t ever come back!” Billy 
sat down and cried as though his poor heart 
would break. 

“Why Billy, what in the world is the matter?” 
Mother was plainly worried. 

“I—I told him that if he whipped Shug, 
Father would whip him, and I s’pose he’s afraid 
to come home. I—I didn’t mean it—I was 
just joking,” he finished between sobs. 

Father came to the door. “How long has 
he been gone?” he inquired, anxiously. 

“He left just after you went away this morn¬ 
ing,” was the reply. 

“Why, that was nearly three hours ago,” 
Father exclaimed. “Where do you suppose he 
could be?” 

They stood looking at each other gravely for 
a little while. Then Uncle Bob suddenly 
brightened up. 

“I’ll see if I can find him!” he called, as he 
snatched his hat and hurried out of the door. 


The Quarrel 


67 


Off he went, across the yard, down the lane, 
then out across the little meadow. Billy fol¬ 
lowed as fast as he could. 

Uncle Bob kept straight on down the fence- 
row until he came to the corner, where Shug 
was jumping up and down and running wildly 
around and around a deep hole that had been 
dug for a corner fence-post, where they were 
building a new fence. 

"Ted! Ted!” Uncle Bob called, as he came 
nearer. 

He was answered by a wild whoop of joy 
from the boy in the post-hole. 

“Well, of all things!” Uncle Bob exclaimed, 
as he reached down and pulled Ted up out of 
the hole. “How did you happen to fall in 
there?” 

“I was chasing Shug,” he began, trying his 
best to laugh and treat it as a joke, although 
his eyes showed that he had been crying. “I 
was chasing Shug and when he got here he 
leaped across, but I didn’t see it in time and 


68 


Shug the Pup 


I just fell in. I tried and tried to get out, but 
I couldn’t. I called until my throat hurt, but 
no one heard me. Shug went right on, I sup¬ 
pose, but he came back a while ago. He’s been 
barking all the time to call for help.” 

“That’s how I happened to find you,” Uncle 
Bob replied. “I heard Shug barking over here 
and when Billy said you were gone, I thought 
of this deep post-hole the first thing.” 

“I’m glad you did,” Ted answered wistfully, 
“for I knew it was almost dinner time.” 


XIII 

THE SURPRISE 

Ted opened his eyes, blinked them hard, then 
raised himself up in his bed on his elbow. 

“Ted!” Father called again from the bottom 
of the stairs, “do you hear me?” 

“Yes,” Ted answered sleepily. 

“Well, get up then,” Father continued, “and 
waken Billy, too. I have something to show 
you.” 

Ted was wide awake in an instant. “What 
is it?” he called quickly. 

“Get dressed and come and see,” was all the 
reply Father made. 

Grabbing Billy by the arm, Ted shook him 
as hard as he could, but Billy was not in the 
notion of waking up. He rolled over out of 
Ted’s reach. 

“Billy,” Ted fairly shouted, “Father has 
something to show us.” 

Then all of a sudden Billy seemed to under- 

69 


70 


Shug the■ Pup 


stand. He sat up in bed, rubbed his eyes, gave 
a leap and landed on the floor. 

As they dressed hurriedly, they wondered what 
it could be. Father had been away from home 
the day before and had not come back until 
after the boys had gone to bed. 

In a short time they rushed downstairs and 
inquired of Mother what it was. She told them 
to go to the barn, where Father was. They 
rushed out as fast as they could. They were 
met at the barn door by Father. He led them 
inside and there stood a spotted pony, just 
the kind they had always wanted. 

“Oh!” Ted exclaimed, and Billy stood looking 
at it, so pleased he didn’t know what to say. 

“Is it ours?” Ted asked eagerly. 

“Yes, I bought it for you yesterday,” Father 
replied. 

They led it outside and walked around and 
around it, petting it and talking about it ex¬ 
citedly. When Mother called them to break¬ 
fast they could hardly leave. 



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72 


Shu g the Pup 


All during breakfast they talked about what 
they would name it, and they finally decided 
to call it Patsy. After breakfast they got their 
chores done as quickly as possible. Then they 
rode the pony all around the place. 

After dinner they wanted to drive it. Father 
didn’t seem to want them to do this, however. 
He didn’t think the pony was used to being 
hitched up. But they coaxed and coaxed, so 
he finally told them they could try it, if they 
would be careful. 

Patsy didn’t seem to mind, so they took an 
old set of harness and fastened it on her the 
best they could. Then they hitched her up 
to an old sled, which was only a couple of run¬ 
ners with a large packing box nailed onto them. 
Father had used it at times to haul feed over 
to the back lot for the pigs. 

They climbed in and started the pony, but 
she didn’t seem to know what to do. So they 
led her out into the pasture and then got in 
and she traveled right along. 


The Surprise 


73 


They didn’t have her head reined up, so she 
would stop and take a bite or two of grass 
every now and then, but most of the time she 
kept right along. 

They went out across the pasture and down 
along an old road by a slough and then around 
by the pond. As they came nearer the pond 
Patsy started straight that way. The boys 
pulled their best and tried to turn her about. 
But she put her head down in a stubborn way 
and kept right on until she reached the water’s 
edge. Then she put her nose down and began 
to drink. Billy was beginning to cry and Ted 
was badly frightened; but when they saw that 
she wanted a drink, they tried to laugh. 

The pond was shallow, in fact there was sel¬ 
dom any water in it in the summer time, and 
of course they knew that they could not drown, 
but they didn’t care about even getting wet. 

They felt relieved when she stopped to drink, 
but it was not to be for long, for a minute 
later she waded right on into the middle of the 


74 


Shu g the Pup 


pond. Then she stopped again. The water 
was quite shallow, but it was deep enough by 
that time to run into the bottom of the box 
and wet their feet. 

Ted was yelling, “Git up! Git up!” as loudly 
as he could, and slapping Patsy with the lines, 
but she didn’t mind or seem to be in any 
hurry at all. 

When she finally did get ready to move on, 
the sled had sunk down into the mud until 
she couldn’t start it. She seemed anxious to 
go, now that there was something to hinder 
her, so she pulled with all her might, when 
snap went the singletree, and she plunged for¬ 
ward on her knees, splashing water all over 
the boys. Then she jumped to her feet and 
walked slowly out of the water and began nib¬ 
bling grass. 

Billy was starting to cry again. “Aw—don’t 
cry,” Ted scolded. 

“What are we going to do?” Billy asked, 
trying hard to check the tears. 


The Surprise 


75 


Ted studied a minute, then slipped off his 
shoes and stockings and waded out and climbed 
on Patsy’s back. After a good bit of urging, 
he coaxed her back into the water beside the 
sled and Billy climbed on behind him, and they 
rode home. 

Father saw them coming and met them at 
the gate. They told him their story, so he got 
his rubber boots and went back with them to 
bring the sled home. 


XIV 


THE COMPANY 

Company had arrived at the Brown home 
and Ted and Billy were happy. Aunt Hattie 
had come with her two children and expected 
to stay a couple of weeks. Her- little girl, Anna, 
was about Billy’s age. Then there was the 
baby, Junior, who was just learning to walk. 

Shug was not so well pleased, however, for 
Anna had brought her white Angora cat along. 
Shug never did like cats, especially the ones 
that were used to too much petting. 

Aunt Hattie lived in a large city and this 
was the first time that Anna had been to the 
farm since she was old enough to remember 
much about it. She was so eager to see every¬ 
thing that she didn’t know what she wanted 
to do first. 

After they had seen all the calves and pigs 
and chickens, they went to the large haymow 
to play and to see the little owl that stayed 

76 



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78 


Shu cj the Pup 


there in the daytime. There it was, as usual 
cuddled up in a corner, with one eye shut, 
twisting its head about and watching every 
move they made. 

Then they brought the pony and rode it all 
about the farm. Evening came all too soon 
and the boys had some chores to do. Anna 
followed them about, never letting them get far 
out of her sight. 

Ted always helped milk, so Billy, Anna, Shug 
and the Angora cat all went along and settled 
themselves about old Nell, the tame old cow 
that Ted always milked. Pretty soon Ted told 
Anna to watch him feed Shug some milk. He 
called the dog a little closer and milked a stream 
straight at his mouth. Shug opened and shut 
his mouth so fast, and tried so hard to lick 
the milk up and swallow it and made such a 
face about it all, that Anna laughed until she 
could hardly stand up. 

Then Anna wanted Ted to try it on her cat. 
He did, but the cat ruffled up her back and 


The Company 


79 


flew into a rage. She seemed to blame Shug 
for the whole affair, for, before they knew what 
was happening, she jumped onto the dog and 
gave him an awful slap with her paw. A mo¬ 
ment later the dog and cat were in a fight. 
They rolled into old Nell’s heels and caused her 
to jump and send Ted rolling in the dust, 
upset his bucket and spill the milk. 

Father came running over, but the fight was 
over almost as quickly as it started. He picked 
Ted up and gave him a little scolding for playing 
so much instead of getting his work done. 

After the chores were finished they went up 
and sat down on the grass in the yard, and 
waited for the little screech owl that came up 
in the orchard nearly every evening. But it 
didn’t come this time and they were too tired 
to wait long, so they went to bed. 


XV 


THE CIRCUS 

Ted and Billy and Cousin Anna were all 
dressed up in their best clothes, sitting out 
on the front porch, waiting impatiently for 
Father to get ready to start. He was going 
to take them to town to a circus and they 
could hardly wait. 

Billy had never been to a circus that he could 
remember, so Anna was telling him all about 
one she had seen the summer before. Billy 
was asking her dozens of questions almost faster 
than she could answer them. 

“Oh, they have lions and monkeys and every¬ 
thing!” she explained, while Billy’s eyes grew 
round as saucers. 

“Will they have them tied up?” he asked 
breathlessly. 

“Oh, no,” she replied, with a wise shake of 
her little head that kept the big pink bow of 

ribbon on her hair bobbing back and forth. 

80 


The Circus 


81 


“They don’t keep them tied up, they have them 
in cages, of course!” 

“And maybe we can feed the monkeys pea¬ 
nuts!” she suddenly remembered. 

“Oh, yes, I saw some boys feeding them pea¬ 
nuts once,” Ted replied eagerly. 

Billy was too excited for words and he drew 
a long breath without uttering a sound. He 
was bent on catching every word. 

Soon Father called them and they were off. 
All the way to town they chattered gayly. As 
they drove into town they heard the band play¬ 
ing and they knew the parade was coming. 
Father saw a good place to park his car where 
they could sit in it and watch the parade. So 
he drove in and pretty soon they saw it coming. 
They were all excited over the pretty horses 
that came first; then there came cage after 
cage of wild animals, drawn in fancy wagons. 
There were elephants and many other creatures, 
some of them so strange that the children could 
hardly believe their eyes. 


82 


Shug the Pup 


After the parade had gone by the party drove 
on out to the circus grounds and Father took 
the children in to see the animals first. Ted 
and Anna walked bravely along, but Billy held 
tightly to Father’s hand until they got to where 
the elephants were. Then he became so inter¬ 
ested that he walked on up to Ted and Anna. 
An old lion in a cage not far away became 
angry at its mate just then and gave a loud 
roar that seemed fairly to shake the ground. 
Billy rushed back to Father as fast as he could 
go, with Ted and Anna not far behind. 

' The monkeys were next, so Father bought 
the children a sack of peanuts and they tried 
to get near enough to feed the monkeys, but 
there was such a crowd around the cage they 
could not reach through to the animals. There 
was one small monkey fastened to a chain out¬ 
side the cage. He would climb down the sides 
of the cage, then hop back on top and jump 
from there to the posts near by. Seeing Ted 
with the peanuts, the little monkey chattered 
















































84 


Shu g the Pup 


to himself for a while, then, with a light spring, 
landed on a post near them. 

Ted gave him a peanut and he scolded over 
it and turned it around, looking it all over, 
before he broke the shell and munched away 
on the kernel. Then Anna reached up an empty 
shell to him. He took it and looked it over 
slowly as before, then bit into it and found 
it empty. All the children shouted with laughter 
as he sat looking slyly at Anna, blinking his 
eyes slowly. Then, quick as a wink, he reached 
down and grabbed the pink bow off Anna’s 
head and sprang back on top of the cage. 

It all happened so quickly that no one said 
a word for a minute. Then tears came into 
Anna’s eyes, but Father laughed and she joined 
in laughing with the rest. Seeing none of the 
circus people near, Father made his way toward 
the cage and reached up for the ribbon. But 
the monkey backed away to the farthest corner 
and crushed the bow up under his chin as 
tightly as he could. Father laughed again and 


The Circus 


85 


told Anna they would buy her another one. 
Anna seemed to think that would be the best 
thing to do. 

When at last they got into the circus tent, 
it was almost time for the performance to start. 
A few minutes later it began. Some girls came 
out on white horses and performed. Then there 
were trapeze performers, and one act after an¬ 
other, until even Billy forgot to ask questions. 

The clowns were probably the greatest at¬ 
traction of all. When one of them came in 
driving a little old mule hitched to a cart, 
and the mule began kicking things to pieces, 
the children squealed with delight. 

When the circus was over, Father bought 
the children each a balloon, with an extra one 
to take home to Baby Junior. It was cloudy 
and so he hurried them out to the car and 
they drove straight home. 


XVI 


THE PLAY CIRCUS 

The night after they got home from the circus, 
the children were so tired they went to bed in 
good time, but they were up bright and early 
the next morning talking it all over. 

“Let’s have a circus of our own!” Ted sug¬ 
gested. Both Anna and Billy thought that it 
would be great fun. So without delay they 
began making their plans. 

At first they thought they would have it 
that very afternoon. Then they decided to put 
it off a day or two and invite some of the neigh¬ 
bor children and Mother and Aunt Hattie. 
After a lot of planning and changing their minds 
they decided to have it out in the orchard under 
a large apple tree, so their trapeze performer 
could use the lower limbs to perform on. 

They carried some old boxes out under the 
tree for seats and then stretched a rope along 

in front of them. They fixed up a stand at one 

86 


The Play Circus 


87 


end and coaxed Mother into letting them have 
a half dozen lemons to make lemonade. They 
searched the pantry, and the whole house as 
well, for paper sacks which they blew full of 
air and tied with strings for balloons. 

The afternoon for the circus arrived, and all 
was ready. When the neighbor children arrived, 
they took them out to the orchard at once, 
where they charged them ten grains of corn 
apiece to get in. The balloons sold for five 
beans each, and soon were all gone. Then Ted 
proudly led them around to see the wild animals. 
There they were, securely caged in some of 
Mother’s wire chicken-coops. 

The first cage had a bold sign reading, 
“Beware of the Lion,” tacked across the top. 
On going nearer they saw Anna’s Angora cat 
stretched out inside as lazy as you please. 

The next cage made them all shriek with 
laughter. For there was the red, pet pig, with 
white paper spots pasted all over him! Ted 
soberly explained how this “leopard’ was cap- 


88 S h u g the P u p 

tured in Africa at the risk of many people’s 
lives. 

Next was the ostrich, Mother’s old black 
rooster, which had been shedding until he had 
lost about half of his feathers. 

The zebra was Shug, all striped with white 
chalk; and next was the camel, which looked 
very much like the boys’ pony, with a hump 
tied on its back and a blanket carefully spread 
over it. 

After they had laughed over all, they went 
back to their seats. As soon as the actors were 
ready, the circus began. 

First came Anna with a fancy paper cap on 
her head and paper streamers flying in all di¬ 
rections. She was seated on the pony and she 
rode gaily around the tree several times, bowing 
gracefully to the crowd. Then she rode out, 
but soon returned with the trapeze performer 
seated behind her. This proved to be Ted with 
a suit of Billy’s outgrown union-alls on, that had 
faded out almost white. They fitted him so 































90 


Shug the Pup 


snugly they looked almost like tights. He wore 
also a pink sash around his waist, that belonged 
to Anna’s new gingham dress. When he jumped 
off the horse and made a sweeping bow, they 
roared with laughter. 

Jumping onto a low stool that stood near by 
he leaped upon the pony’s back, grasped a limb 
of the tree and swung himself up, while Anna 
rode on around the ring. Swinging from one 
limb to another he “skinned a cat,” chinned 
the limbs, and did one stunt after another until 
he was tired. Then he gave a sharp whistle 
and Anna rode back into the ring. He dropped 
from the limb onto the pony’s back and they 
rode away together. 

Next Billy, as a clown, came running into 
the ring with his face all painted up and wearing 
a clown suit that they had made out of one of 
Mother’s old flowered curtains. He spread an 
old blanket on the ground and turned somer¬ 
saults and tumbled around in truly clownish 
fashion. 


The Play Circus 91 

Then Anna, as the lion-tamer, led the lion 
into the ring and made her do all the tricks 
she knew, such as to go to sleep and sit up 
and meow for things. 

All during the performance a dog belonging 
to one of the neighbor boys had been watching 
the cat out of the corner of his eye. When she 
trotted around the ring close to him, he jumped 
to his feet with a sharp bark. Ruffling up her 
tail and arching her back in the fiercest manner, 
the cat eyed him for a moment. Then, before 
Ann a could stop her, she bounded up the tree 
and out onto a limb. The dog was quickly 
led away to a safe distance; but all Anna’s 
efforts to call the cat down were vain. So Ted 
climbed the tree after the cat; but she climbed 
out so far on the limb that he couldn’t reach 
her. They had to let her stay and this broke 
up the show. 

Mother then told them to turn the rest of 
the animals out of the cages and come with her, 
as she had a little surprise for them. They 


92 


Shug the Pup 


followed her down to the yard and she told 
them to sit down on the grass. Soon she and 
Aunt Hattie came out with a dish of fruit salad 
and a piece of cake for each one of them, and 
how they did enjoy it! 

After they had finished eating, they played 
a few games. Then it was time for the neighbor 
children to go home. So Ted and Billy and 
Anna went with them as far as the gate, and 
waved good-by to them as they passed out of 
sight. 


XVII 


THE BANDITS’ CAVE 

Cousin Anna had always had a notion that 
she would like to have a cave to play in. She 
had a story-book at home that told about a 
dark cave that was dug in the side of a steep 
bank by some bandits. She had often wished 
for a steep bank in which to dig a cave, but 
there was not much chance in the city where 
she lived. 

One morning, as she and Ted and Billy were 
looking over the farm, they came to the old 
ditch just back of the orchard and there, next 
to the fence in the corner, was a washed-out 
place under the bank that looked almost like 
a cave. There was no water in the ditch except 
in a rainy season and the banks were quite 
dry now. So Anna scrambled over the bank 
and stood looking at the place in great ex¬ 
citement. 

“Oh, that’s the finest place to make a cave 

93 


94 


Shug the Pup 


you ever saw!” she exclaimed. “And I’ve always 
wanted a cave to play in,” she kept on saying. 

“What would you play?” Ted asked bluntly, 
not seeming much interested. 

“Oh, we would play we were bandits, or some¬ 
thing,” she explained. 

“Oh, I know,” began Billy, who also had heard 
a story that centered about a cave, “we could 
play we were white folks that were hiding from 
the Indians.” 

“I know what I’d rather do,” Ted put in, 
beginning now to get interested. “I’d rather 
play we were shipwrecked on an island and had 
to live like Robinson Crusoe, and were making 
us a cave to live in.” 

“I believe that would be better,” Anna finally 
decided, “and then we could make a regular 
playhouse out of it.” 

“And maybe we could have a ‘play’ dinner,” 
Billy suggested. 

“Yes!” Anna agreed, “that would be more 
fun than anything! I didn’t really want to be 


The Bandits' Cave 


95 


a bandit, anyway,” she added quite soberly. 

Ted hurried off to the house after a shovel 
and the other two sat down and began plan¬ 
ning. As soon as Ted returned they began 
work. At first they thought they would dig 
back a long way, but they soon saw that that 
would be too much work. Besides, the top 
might cave in. So they decided to leave it 
as it was, only they dug out a shelf all the 
way around to set things on. Then they went 
to the house and got an old box to use for a 
table; and they hunted up some old dishes 
and silverware. 

By this time they were so hungry that they 
thought they wanted something more than a 
play dinner; so they asked Mother if she would 
give them something to eat. Mother was busy 
just then, so she told them to come back in an 
hour and she would give them a lunch. 

They went back to the cave and fixed it all 
up. They played around a while and when 
they thought the hour was about up, Billy 


96 


Shu g the Pup 


went to the house. In a little while he came 
back carrying a basket. 

“What have you there?” Ted and Anna both 
asked at the same time. 

“I don’t know,” he said. “Mother said not to 
open it until I came up here.” 

He set it down on the ground and pulled the 
paper off and there were sandwiches and pickles, 
boiled eggs and apples and cookies, as well as 
a nice, big orange for each of them. 

“Mother said we needn’t go to the house for 
dinner,” Billy told them eagerly. 

“Oh, goodie!” Anna exclaimed, as she danced 
around the basket. “I’m just having the best 
time!” she added, as she helped carry the basket 
over and spread the things out on the table. 

A few minutes later three hearty children gath¬ 
ered around to eat their dinner and laugh over the 
fact that they didn’t even have to wash their faces. 


XVIII 


THE SCARE 

Everybody was up early at the Brown home. 
Even Billy, who usually slept late, was wide 
awake and up long before daylight. Aunt Hattie 
and Anna and Baby Junior were leaving for 
home on an early train and Mother had 
promised Ted and Billy they might go along 
to take them to the train. 

Billy was all aglow with excitement. He 
rushed out to the kitchen and washed for break¬ 
fast without even having to be told to do so. 

Just before they sat down to breakfast, 
Father started out to the well to get a bucket 
of water. As he opened the door he stepped 
back with an exclamation of surprise. The boys 
came running to the door, but Father motioned 
for them to not come too near. He walked 
cautiously out across the porch. 

Mother and Aunt Hattie and Uncle Bob all 

came to the door and looked out. In the dark- 

97 


98 


Shu g the Pup 


ness they could discern a shadowy form of some 
horribly shaped animal, with two fiery eyes that 
fairly gleamed in the darkness. It moved slowly 
back and forth, at bay, as it seemed, but for 
the most part kept its eyes fixed on them. 

It appeared to be about the size of a large 
dog, but it had the most hideous head imagin¬ 
able. The children cuddled up against Mother, 
and for a moment all were quiet. 

“Well, what on earth is it?” Uncle Bob asked. 

“Bring me my flash light,” Father replied 
in a low voice. His eyes were becoming more 
accustomed to the darkness, but still he could 
not make out what it was. 

Mother soon returned with the flash light. 
Father took it and walked out a little nearer 
the object, throwing the full force of the light 
upon it. After the first gasp there was silence 
for an instant, broken by a roaring laugh from 
Uncle Bob. The rest joined in, for there stood 
Jenkins, a big hound belonging to a neighbor, 
with the remains of Mrs. Brown’s “meat-grease 





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100 


Shug the Pup 


keg” on his head. It was a wooden nail-keg 
that she kept out in the woodshed to put old 
scraps of meat in. The hound had found the 
woodshed door open and had pushed the lid off. 
He had managed to get his head caught fast 
in the keg and in his effort to get away, he had 
broken out the bottom, so his eyes shone 
through. 

After a good deal of coaxing, the men caught 
the dog and removed the keg. At once he 
bounded over the fence and started for home 
as fast as he could run. 

“My, that scared me!” Ted said, with a wise 
shake of his head. 

“Well, he won’t be back for a while, anyhow,” 
Mother laughed as she hurried them in to eat 
breakfast before it got cold. 


XIX 


THE NEW PUPPY 

Father Brown had a new Scotch collie puppy 
and Shug didn’t know whether to be glad he 
had a playmate, or to be jealous because Ted 
and Billy were giving it so much attention. 

Father had been wanting a dog for a long 
time to help him drive the stock, but Shug 
was such a playmate of the boys that they didn’t 
try to teach him anything when he was a tiny 
pup and now he was almost too old. 

Mother insisted that they didn’t need two 
dogs, but Father bought the pup anyway. 
When Father brought the little collie home, he 
was so cunning that Mother didn’t say a word. 

They named him Buddy and Father started 
at once to teach the pup to drive the stock; 
but Shug was always right there too, barking 
as loud as he could. Then every time Father 
would try to start Buddy after a cow or horse, 

Shug would run to the head of the animal and 
101 


102 


Shug the Pup 


then Buddy would follow. So the stock would 
always go in the wrong direction. 

At last, after a few weeks, Father became 
disgusted, for he saw that Shug was spoiling 
the pup. Father knew that as long as Shug 
was around, Buddy would not amount to any¬ 
thing. So one evening Father told Ted and 
Billy he thought they would have to give Shug 
away. Of course the boys could not bear even 
to think of such a thing. 

One evening not long after that, Ted and Billy 
were driving the cows in from the pasture and 
the two dogs were tagging at their heels. All 
of a sudden a rabbit jumped out of the grass 
and scampered off down the road. Shug gave 
one sharp bark and started after it. Soon they 
were in a hot race, with Shug gaining on the 
rabbit at every jump. Down the hill they went, 
pell mell. But when they reached the corner, 
the rabbit circled around and started back up 
the road and then dodged into a culvert, just 
as Shug came within a few feet of it. 


103 


The New Puppy 

Quick as a wink the dog crouched on the 
ground and crawled into the culvert, as it was 
too small for him to walk into it. 

The boys drove the cows into the lot and shut 
the gate as quickly as possible. Then they ran 
down the road to see what was going on. They 
stooped down and looked into the culvert. They 
could see Shug, but it was too dark to see 
whether the rabbit was still there or not. Shug 
was whining and barking. He acted as though 
he were caught fast. The boys called to him, 
but he didn’t come out; so they got a long 
stick and thought they would scare the rabbit 
out; but evidently it had already escaped. So 
they went back to the other end and called again 
to the dog. 

By this time he was barking and whining 
in such a pitiful way that they knew he could 
not get out. The culvert was made of lumber 
and was buried deeply under the road. There 
seemed to be no chance of getting in where the 
dog was, so they, coaxed and called to him 


104 


Shug the Pup 


again. But he was barking and whining now, 
as if he were in great pain. So the boys ran back 
to the barn and called Father. 

Father came down as soon as he could. Just 
as he got there Shug backed out and limped 
across to a patch of grass and lay down. He 
began licking his leg, and they knew that he 
was hurt. When they came closer, they saw 
that he had a bad looking cut or tear in one of 
his legs. It looked as if he had caught it on 
a nail. Father got down and peeped into the 
culvert and, sure enough, he could see the nail 
sticking out of one side of the culvert. 

Tears came into Billy’s eyes as he dropped 
down on his knees and gave Shug a little hug. 
Ted wanted to carry the dog to the house, 
but when he tried to pick him up Shug growled 
and pulled away. They started on and he got 
up and limped slowly along behind them. 
Mother put a bandage on the wound, and they 
fixed his bed up with a cushion in the woodshed 
and gave him a bowl of fresh milk with his supper. 


105 


The New Puppy 

Next morning the first thing that they did 
was to run out to see how he was. He didn’t 
seem to want to get out of his bed, so they 
fed him where he was; after a while he limped 
out into the yard and lay down in the sun. 

For several days he hardly did more than 
that. For the next two weeks, he didn’t try 
to chase the stock or even run at all. The 
boys petted him until he was pretty well spoiled, 
but it gave Father the chance he had been 
looking for to train Buddy, and he made use 
of it. By the time Shug was able to run around 
again, Buddy’s training was well under way. 

“Well, Fm sorry Shug got hurt,” Father said 
one day as he watched the two dogs romp 
about the yard, after Shug got better, “but 
it surely helped me out in training Buddy.” 


XX 


THE MORNING RIDE 

Now that Shug was well again, he and Buddy 
romped and played for hours at a time. One 
morning when Shug was curled up under the 
lilac bush asleep and Buddy was down behind 
the garage burying a bone, they heard Billy 
calling them from out in the pasture, behind 
the barn. 

Shug started at once, but Buddy dug fran¬ 
tically until he got the bone covered safely, 
and then followed as fast as he could go. 

Ted was coming from the barn on Patsy, 
the pony; so Billy opened the gate and let him 
through and then climbed up behind, and Patsy 
trotted off across the pasture toward the woods. 

Buddy didn’t know so much about the woods, 
but there was nothing that made Shug happier 
than to follow the boys down along the stream, 
where he could chase squirrels up the trees, run 

after rabbits and bark at everything he saw. 

106 


107 


The Morning Ride 

This morning the boys were looking for a 
calf that had strayed away. It had not come 
up with the rest of the calves the night before, 
but it was too dark before they missed it to 
go to look for it then, so Father had asked 
them to go right after breakfast. 

They rode all up and down the stream and 
then started around the pasture. As they came 
to a group of trees, there the calf was, eating 
grass as calmly as could be. 

They went around behind it and started it 
for home, and then they rode along slowly be¬ 
hind it. When the calf reached the stream, 
it stopped for a drink. After it finished drink¬ 
ing, it waded on across the creek. The water 
was shallow there and so clear that they could 
see the sandy bottom plainly; so Ted headed 
the pony straight across it. Patsy seemed to 
want a drink, too, so Ted loosened the reins 
and the pony took a sip or two and then started 
on across. A rabbit sprang out from behind 
a log right beside them and Shug gave one 


108 


Shug the Pup 


wild yelp and went after it at full speed. 

It was all so unexpected that it frightened 
Patsy and she made a lunge up the bank. 
Billy, who was not looking for anything of the 
sort and did not have hold of anything, slid 
off, and in a twinkling landed on his back in 
the water. 

Ted heard the splash and was almost as 
scared as Billy himself. 

“Billy! Billy!” he cried, as he jumped off the 
pony and ran back down the bank. 

Billy crawled out of the water, which was 
only a few inches deep, and sat down on the 
bank without saying a word. He was dripping 
wet. Ted, seeing that he was not hurt, began 
laughing, but Billy sat there pretty soberly for 
a minute. 

“Oh,” he said, “that did scare me,” and then 
he laughed too, not very heartily, however. 

They climbed back on the pony and started 
on toward home. When they reached the barn¬ 
yard gate, Billy slid off the pony and started 



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110 


Shug the Pup 


to the house for some dry clothes. Uncle Bob 
was just leaving the house and he met him in 
the yard. 

“Well, what in the world is the matter?” 
he asked, and Billy told the whole story, breath¬ 
lessly. 

“Well, you have a lot of bad luck,” Uncle 
Bob laughed. “Remember when you fell into 
the creek when we were fishing?” 

Billy dropped his head and grinned. “Yes, 
I remember,” he replied, as he went on into the 
house. 


XXI 


SHUG GOES TO A NEW HOME 

Mr. Brown’s nearest neighbor, Mr. Moore, 
had a little boy named Sammie who had always 
wanted a dog. Shug often went over to play 
with Sammie and they had great times together. 
Now the Moores were moving quite a distance 
away and Sammie’s greatest regret at going was 
that he wouldn’t see Shug any more. 

The day before the Moores left for their new 
home, Sammie came over to play with Shug 
and the boys. When his father stopped for 
him in the evening he wasn’t ready to go home 
at all. 

“Can’t I take Shug with me when we move?” 
he asked wistfully, as he looked up into Father 
Brown’s face. 

Father shook his head, laughing. “I’m afraid 
not,” he answered. “I don’t think Ted and 
Billy could spare him.” 

“But Ted and Billy can have Buddy,” the 

m 


112 Shug the Pup 

little fellow still coaxed, as he patted Shug 
fondly. 

“I wish I could buy the dog of them,” Sam- 
mie’s father said. “He is such a smart dog, 
he would make a fine playmate for Sammie.” 

“Well, we wouldn’t sell him,” Father an¬ 
swered, “but I would be willing to give him to 
you, if the boys were willing. My new pup 
isn’t doing so well since Shug recovered, for they 
both want to play all the time. Then Mother 
thinks we don’t need two dogs.” 

After they had talked a while longer, Mr. 
Moore called the boys over to see what they 
would have to say about it. Billy shook his 
head in a decided manner. 

“Oh, we couldn’t ever let Shug go,” he said, 
and that seemed to settle it; but after Mr. 
Moore and Sammie were gone Father made a 
suggestion. 

“Better let Sammie take Shug home with 
him for a while until Mr. Moore can get a little 
pup for him,” he said. He was thinking that 


S hug Goes to a New Home 113 

when Shug had been away for a time, the boys 
might be willing to give him up. 

That was different, the boys told each other, 
as they made their way around to the back steps 
where all serious questions were usually settled. 

“We might just let him go visiting,” Billy 
finally decided. 

“And then, of course, if he doesn’t like it, 
we will go and bring him home,” Ted answered. 

“But he likes Sammie almost as well as he 
does us,” Billy continued seriously. “I’m afraid 
he might not want to come back home at all.” 

“Oh yes, he will,” Ted replied. “We needn’t 
be afraid of that.” 

At bedtime they were still talking about it, 
but they had decided to let Shug go “on a visit.” 
So next day when Mr. and Mrs. Moore and 
Sammie stopped to tell them good-by as they 
were leaving for their new home, the boys told 
them what they had decided. 

Sammie was so tickled he hardly knew what 
to do. The Moores were in their car; so, when 


114 


Shug the 'P u p 


they got ready to leave, Sammie called to Shug 
and Shug hopped right in, as glad as could be 
that he was going to get a ride, for there was 
nothing he liked better than riding in an auto¬ 
mobile. 

Ted and Billy climbed up and each gave him 
a good hug. They knew he was going to have 
a good time, and they thought he would be 
satisfied and happy with Sammie to play with 
all the time. They were willing until the car 
pulled away with Shug sitting up as proud 
as could be in the back seat beside Sammie, 
his new master. But that was too much for 
Billy and he began crying and ran off around 
the house, while Ted walked away to the barn, 
trying hard to act as if he didn’t care. 


XXII 


SHUG IS MISSED 

For a few days after Shug went home with 
Sammie, Billy did not act like himself. In fact, 
none of the family had realized how much they 
would miss the dog until he was gone. He was 
so friendly, and always so busy doing some¬ 
thing, if nothing more than just rolling an old 
bucket around the yard and growling and bark¬ 
ing at it. 

Mother missed him whenever a crow or hawk 
would get after her chickens, for all she ever 
had to do was to call Shug and he would bark 
at it as long as he could see it, and follow it a 
long way out across the pasture. Of course 
the bird would be afraid to come down low 
enough to catch a chicken. 

Father and Uncle Bob missed him, too, every 
time they went to the corncrib to get corn; 
for Shug was usually right there when they 

opened the door and he would jump in and 
115 


116 


Shu g the Pup 


often catch a mouse that was eating corn before 
it could get away. So Ted and Billy were not 
by any means the only ones who missed the 
dog. 

It was several days after he had gone away 
that Billy came in to dinner a little late, slipped 
into his chair and sat through the whole meal 
hardly saying a word, and eating only a very 
little. 

Mother noticed that something was wrong. 
After dinner the boy sauntered over to the porch 
door and sat down on the floor and gazed off 
outdoors without saying a word. All this was 
unusual for Billy, who was apt to chatter and 
play all the time he was awake. 

“Don’t you feel well, Billy?” Mother finally 
asked. 

“Oh, yes,” he answered indifferently. 

After a while, when the rest of the family 
had gone outdoors, Mother asked again: 
“What’s the matter with you, Billy? Come, 
tell me.” 













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118 


Shug the Pup 


“Oh, nothing,” he answered. Then after a 
while he said wistfully, “I wonder what Shug 
is doing.” 

“Oh, I expect he is having lots of fun,” 
Mother replied. “He’ll be all right with Sam- 
mie, you know,” she answered cheerfully. 

“Yes, but maybe they’ll forget to feed him. 
They’re not used to having a dog to feed,” he 
continued. 

“Oh, Mrs. Moore will remember him all 
right,” she said, “and she’ll tell Sammie when 
to feed him.” 

“But you can’t tell, maybe she might for¬ 
get him, too,” Billy slowly replied, still un¬ 
convinced. 

“Do you miss him so much?” Mother asked 
gently. 

Billy’s lips quivered as he got up hastily and 
started away. 

“Oh, I’d rather he was home,” he answered, 
trying hard to act as if he didn’t care. 

Buddy was lying on the steps and he came 


Slin g Is Missed 119 

running up, but Billy pushed him away almost 
roughly. 

“If it wasn’t for you,” he said shortly, “Shug 
wouldn’t be away from home.” 

Buddy wagged his tail, and looked up at 
Billy as if he didn’t know what to make of it 
all, and a minute later Billy was sorry. 

“Well, it isn’t your fault, anyway,” he said 
as he reached down and patted Buddy’s head. 
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go and play.” 


XXIII 


BUDDY RUNS AWAY 

It wasn’t Buddy’s fault that he wasn’t taking 
the place of both Shug and himself, for he 
was busy from morning until night. He had 
learned now so that Father could send him quite 
a distance out in the pasture and the pup 
would drive the cattle up. 

But there was one thing he would not do 
and that was ride in the car. Shug had always 
been so anxious to get a ride that the boys could 
hardly understand Buddy’s actions; but Father 
did not want them to try to teach the collie 
to ride. Father thought it would usually be 
better for Buddy to stay at home. 

But the trouble was that he didn’t want to 
stay at home either. Almost every time any 
of them would leave the place, he would try to 
follow, and they would have to watch and make 
him go back. 

One morning Father and Uncle Bob and the 
120 


Buddy Runs Aw a y 


121 


boys went to town in the car. They forgot all 
about Buddy, but Mother saw him race down 
the road after them. He was too far away for 
her to call him back, so she watched him until 
he disappeared over the hill. Of course the car 
was leaving him behind, but he was putting 
up quite a race. 

Mother thought maybe he would come back 
after a while, but he didn’t. So, as soon as the 
folks came home, she asked them about him. 
They did not even know he had started to 
follow them. 

The boys looked at each other with serious 
faces. “Do you suppose we are not going to 
have even one dog?” Ted asked soberly. 

“I believe he will come back,” Father said. 

“Well, I surely hope so,” Billy replied, “for 
we can’t do without Shug and Buddy both.” 

The boys watched up and down the road 
for the pup; but he did not come. Just after 
dinner one of the neighbors called Mother on 
the telephone and told her that Buddy was over 


122 


Shug the Pup 


there. So Mother called to the boys and told 
them. They got on Patsy and went over after 
Buddy and brought him home. It was hard to 
tell which seemed the most pleased, the boys 
or the dog. 

That evening Mother said to Father as they 
sat on the porch and watched the boys romp 
about the yard with the pup, “I didn’t realize 
how much pleasure the boys did get with the 
dogs. I suppose,” she continued, “two dogs 
wouldn’t be so bad after all.” 


XXIV 


THE HAPPY REUNION 

Almost a week after Shug had gone away 
to his new home Mother was awakened early 
one morning by a familiar sound. She raised 
up in bed and listened, but heard nothing more. 
Surely, she thought, she could not be mistaken. 
She lay there wide awake, wondering, but only 
for a little while; for soon she heard Uncle 
Bob going down the stairs. He, too, had heard 
the noise. 

The front screen-door was loose and it had 
rattled as if some weight had been thrown against 
it. Uncle Bob, as well as Mother, had heard 
the same noise several times within a few 
minutes. 

Going quietly to the door, Uncle Bob started 
to push it slowly open. He found, as he ex¬ 
pected, something against it. He whistled softly 
and an instant later Shug bounded to his feet, 

and was jumping all over him, whining with 

123 


124 


Shug the Pup 


joy and wagging his tail with all his might. 

Mother came quickly down the stairs in 
kimono and slippers, and the dog left Uncle 
Bob and rushed for her. 

“Well, you poor doggie,” she said, as she 
stooped to pat him on the head, “how did you 
get home?” 

Shug only whined for reply, but he seemed 
to be satisfied with his welcome for he heard 
the gladness in her voice. 

“He has walked all that distance to come 
home!” was Uncle Bob’s only comment. 

“Yes, and the minute I heard him flop him¬ 
self down against that door I knew it was he,” 
Mother replied. 

“I have a notion to waken Ted and Billy,” 
Uncle Bob said a moment later in a kind of 
questioning tone, to see what Mother thought 
about it. 

“They shouldn’t be wakened so early,” Mother 
replied, “but I don’t believe' it would hurt them 
for once.” 



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126 


Shug the Pup 


“Let’s let Shug waken them himself!” Uncle 
Bob exclaimed. 

“Well, all right,” Mother replied reluctantly, 
for she didn’t care much about having Shug 
on the bed. But they called him up the stairs 
to the boys’ room, then over to their bed. An 
instant later he was crawling all over them, 
licking their hands and in every way possible 
showing how glad he was to see them. 

Ted sat up sleepily and blinked his eyes, trying 
to make out what was happening, but Billy 
was the first really to know what was going on. 

“Shug!” he exclaimed, as he threw his arms 
about the pup and gave him a mighty hug. 
Then followed a volley of questions from the 
boys as to how he got home. Uncle Bob told 
them that the dog no doubt had walked all 
the way and probably had traveled most of 
the night. 

Father came in about that time to see what 
all the excitement was about and Shug, not 
forgetting anyone, ran to meet h im . 


The Happy Reunion 127 

“Well, old boy,” Father said, as he pushed 
him gently away, “I suppose you’re back home 
to stay.” 

At last Shug curled himself up on the floor 
and laid his head on his paws as though he 
were tired. He closed his eyes and soon fell 
asleep. Every once in a while he would give 
a soft little bark and wag his tail contentedly. 

Shug was happy to be home, and every one 
in the Brown family was happy too. And if 
Shug knew anything, he knew that. 











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